Florida’s long-struggling citrus industry now faces an invasive species crisis, but researchers have a plan to fight back.
Florida citrus farmers grapple with disease killing trees
Florida citrus farmers are turning to new ways to combat disease-carrying insects that kill citrus trees.
BARTOW, Fla. – Citrus fruits have been a cornerstone of Florida’s economy and identity for more than a century, but decades of decline due to invasive predators and relentless hurricanes have some wondering if the citrus industry can recover.
Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, the state’s largest citrus industry association, said citrus was once a “giant business” with about 1 million acres of trees in the state. Currently, less than 200,000 acres are under cultivation.
Production has plummeted nearly 92% since 2004, the season before three hurricanes made landfall here. In the winter of 2024-2025, production reached its lowest level in more than a century.
In early 2025, the state’s largest commercial producer announced it would close its citrus operations in Florida, citing economic conditions.
But many growers and scientists have no intention of closing the book on Florida’s citrus history.
They are battling the voracious Asian citrus plantain and the bacterial disease it carries that kills trees, known as “citrus greening.”
Joyner said that through breeding and genetics, researchers and growers have developed trees that “exhibit great resistance, if not resistance, to greening.”
Invasive species are attacking Florida’s citrus orchards
Although Florida growers have experienced ongoing problems with pests and diseases such as canker, and historic tree mortality, syrids are considered the most serious threat to citrus trees and fruit worldwide.
The collectively devastating strain of Huanglongbing (HLB), or Candidatus Liberbacter asiaticus, spread by this disease has affected dozens of countries. It has occurred in several states, but the hardest hit state is Florida.
The insect, only one-eighth of an inch long, entered the state in 1998 and was discovered in the commercial citrus industry in 2005. They’ve been wreaking havoc ever since.
“We’ve seen a 90% reduction in acreage and production compared to before HLB,” said Ut Albrecht, associate professor of plant physiology at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
During the 2024-25 season, producers produced 14.6 million boxes, down more than 25% from the previous year. This is the first time in 125 years that production has been this low. At its peak, the industry produced 304 million boxes per season.
Scientists blame Florida’s heat and rain for part of the spread of the virus, This encourages new growth that the insects like to eat, and hurricanes move the insects to new areas, slowing efforts to eradicate the nautilus from the moment it first appeared in South Florida.
Silids act like malaria-carrying mosquitoes, transferring the disease from infected trees to healthy trees. Albrecht said that once the virus hits a tree, “it spreads everywhere, not just on the leaves and surfaces.”
Growers are working with scientists to develop and use promising treatments and tools to fight off insects and bacteria. This involves using hundreds of different types of trees and fruits to develop trees with stronger root systems and tree tops.
They also have been applying a treatment Albrecht helped develop to control bacterial infections for three years. They are expanding the acres they cultivate under protective screen structures that keep lice out. Other advances include helping trees produce proteins that can kill small young lice.
State and federal programs also help pay for new tree plantings and develop new tools to treat diseases.
Joyner said things are “moving in the right direction.” “It’s kind of exciting to see some resurgence.”
“Guiding Light”
Joyner said numbers showing the industry’s decline miss the optimism and determination of growers and scientists working to turn things around.
“It’s easy to look at statistics and graphs and get the wrong idea of what’s going on with Florida’s citrus,” he says.
Shane and Katie Bevilacqua, co-owners of Golden Ridge Grove near Bartow, aren’t ready to give up just yet. Steve Crump’s family has also been growing fruit in DeLeon Springs for more than 130 years.
These growers are working with scientists to find solutions and are excited about advances such as new varieties of rootstocks and trees that are more resilient, resistant, grow faster, and produce more desirable fruit.
The destruction of greenery has led researchers to accelerate genetic research, said Jude Grosser, a professor of plant cytogenetics at the University’s Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.
These days, Grosser spends a lot of time in the fields, roaming the groves in search of the best trees and fruit. He and his colleagues work to find and isolate the “right” traits among the thousands of hybrids planted in orchards and cross them with other hybrids to improve both the trees and the fruit.
The University of Florida team was a “guiding light,” said Shane Bevilacqua, co-owner of Golden Ridge Grove with his wife. Katie’s father, Jerry Mixon, grandfather and uncle have been affiliated with the university for many years and are known as pioneers in the growth of Florida’s blueberry industry. “I come from a long line of risk-takers and problem-solvers,” she said.
In 2016, Jerry Mixon began planting trees under screened protection structures designed to keep insects out. Currently, the farm has approximately 700 acres under protective cover.
The Bevilacquas will open Golden Ridge for tours in November, giving the public the opportunity to share with the public what’s going on inside the protected structure, as well as tastings. She said this is a way to bring citrus science to the public and get direct feedback from consumers about new varieties of fruit.
Growers see significant side benefits in screen construction, Bevilaquas said. Trees that have some protection from wind and sun will grow much faster in a humid environment than outside a screen. They also produce more and higher quality fruit.
“We’re much more efficient by doing more work per acre,” Grosser said. “The research we’ve done on greening has led to a lot of things that will give us better practices.”
get a head start
About 90 miles northeast of the research center in Polk County, Florida, Steve Crump’s great-grandfather, Chester Strahan, planted orange trees in the late 1800s. The family had previously fought and returned after the bitter cold of 1894-1895, and again nearly a century later in 1989.
When Grosser planted his first citrus tree under one of the protective screening structures four years ago, he warned Crump that the tree would grow quickly.
“Compared to what I grow outdoors, it’s incredibly fast,” said Crump, executive director of the Volusia County Farm Bureau. “The quality of the fruit is the best I’ve ever grown.”
Encouraged by the growth, flavor and yield he’s seen on his family’s Vaux-LaSalle farm, and after thinking about the future, he’s expanding the area under the screen.
Fencing costs tens of thousands of dollars per acre and could be expensive to repair after a storm like Hurricane Milton in 2024. Grosser said the expense will force pen farmers to shift to producing higher-value varieties, rather than focusing on juice as they have in the past.
Farmers in Florida and Georgia also use individual screen covers on new young trees planted outdoors. You can extend the life of your tree by keeping it covered for several years to hasten the building of a healthy root system.
What you need to know about Asian citrus foxes
Homeowners can also control the problem by monitoring their citrus trees, learning how to recognize symptoms of insects and greening, and using pesticides and other measures to keep trees healthy.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, symptoms to watch for include:
- Bull louse eggs are yellow-orange, almond-shaped and often hidden in the crevices and folds of leaves.
- The small nymphs leave waxy white excrement on the leaves.
- Even if a tree is asymptomatic, it can become a source of bacteria that can infect other trees.
- The leaves may have spots or mottled color, and the fruit may remain partially green and irregularly shaped.
Saving Florida’s Citrus Fruits
Saving Florida’s citrus trees will require a coordinated, multidisciplinary strategy, Albrecht said.
“You really have to use all the tools, from nutrition to irrigation to pests to pesticides to injections,” she says. “Ultimately, the best way to solve this problem or live with it is to have better varieties that can handle this disease.”
The goal is to develop a portfolio of root stocks that farmers can use to select the best option for their farm based on soil, salinity, insect and disease issues, and the type of fruit they want to produce, Grosser said. With these advances, progressive people with capital and a willingness to try different things “will succeed,” he said.
Grosser said the industry also wants to develop fruit that can be harvested mechanically and withstand packaging and transportation, as well as varieties that maintain juice flavor and quality even after pasteurization. At a juice tasting at a December fundraiser, he said a new variety of orange named after the late Olly Lee, a member of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, blended with mandarin orange juice was by far the crowd’s favorite.
Another obstacle to a full recovery for the citrus industry is the decreasing amount of acreage available for new orchards as land demand for new subdivisions and housing increases. Grosser says farmers who have given up on the fight against greening and let their trees die are receiving huge offers for their land. If the land is sold, “you can never go back to farming.”
Joyner and others hope a continued focus on state-supported farm preservation programs that reward farmers for conserving their land will alleviate these concerns.
Joyner said the industry’s survival is critical for green spaces and rural economies, as well as for consumers who want to continue buying fresh, domestically grown fruit and juices.
Dinah Boyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY and a Florida native, has covered the environment, weather and climate change for decades. Contact dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or dinahvp.77 on X or Signal.
